By the sound of your voice
by mimi 007
Summary: ... I go to war. Kimimaro has been lying sick for months now, his usefulness for his master becoming a constant hurt in the knot in his stomach. When feeling needed, he rose to do the last thing for his master.


This is a story about Kimimaro for the 100 confessions competition with the team Remedy Darkness, prompt Sound... I have had it done for a while, but decided I would share my results. It was a bother to write since I know I can easily make something about him, but I respect his character so much that what I end up having written must be good. So this is my attempt of reaching my high expectations, in honor of a character so poor and sad that he left an impression despite the short time he was in the plot of the manga and anime.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto, and for that reason will not take credit for it.

Though I could not see, my ears told me Kabuto-sensei was still standing by the screen. I could not decide which setting the screen was on, but a faint sound of fighting was heard from the speakers. It had to be the prisoner's hall, the waste of the world that Orochimaru-sama had put together for his experiments. If they were fighting… and allowed to fight… that could only mean one thing…

Though his attention was elsewhere, Kabuto-sensei was speaking to me. Telling me about my condition, and, more importantly, Orochimaru-sama's. We have been speaking for quite a while, and though his next words only stated an already known fact, it hurt me nearly as much as the physical pain in my chest or the tremors in my legs and arms.

"You have lost you purpose as a 'vessel'." I forced my body not to cringe and my heart not to speed when he said it. Of course, Orochimaru-sama had no use of a sick person like I, but I… still… had hoped to regain my health against all the odds Kabuto-sensei had set and become Orochimaru-sama's new body. "Right now," Kabuto-sensei continued, "we have a new vessel on his way to the village."

If the vessel was on its way, why did the make the prisoners kill each other? For what purpose would they thin out the population of experiments, if it was not for Orochimaru-sama to make the best of them his new body for this emergency? If they had a good vessel… why use the trash?

"Well…" Kabuto-sensei continued, and I traced the feeling of satisfaction in his voice. He was not satisfied with whatever situation they experienced outside my bed, but he liked what was happening inside this room. "That, in itself, is late as well."

That explained the prisoners killing off each other… But it still made me sad. The fact that the lateness of this vessel forced Orochimaru-sama to use a lesser creature for his new body. Whoever was doing this mission deserved severe punishment for making him wait too long. He may even have died! That is the worst possible thing!

The sound of fighting from the speakers slowly faded, and a new, muffled sound of a voice continued in its wake. It could only barely make out Orochimaru-sama's voice among those, but his presence in his fragile state told me that the transfer was about to presume. If only my body had been well… If only I could have been there for him.

When that easily recognizable scream was heard, I came to a decision. I could not help him the way I had wished, and now the other vessel was too late. "I must agree…" I began my words, as my mind settled the plan which would danger my own health. "I have no longer the capacity of the metampsychosis. In fact, it is quite difficult to discover my purpose, now that I have lost everything." Now, that my health has disappeared. "Although he may not be me, I will bring this new vessel." Compared to Orochimaru-sama, my health meant nothing.

I had forced myself to sit up from my deathbed, the tubes and seals attached around me getting broken by the strain put on them from my trembling body. "Even if it costs me my very life. This is how I show my thanks to Orochimaru-sama," for taking me in despite my age and stupidity, "and how I repay my uselessness." I am sorry I could not be of more use for you, Orochimaru-sama...

I slowly stood from my bed for the first time since I helped Orochimaru-sama with the Kazekage. My feet, already weak after the many months of sickness and stillness, gave in when a new bundle of cramps overtook the muscles of my shins and thighs. To my surprise, and hand grabbed my arm and held me steady, and my eyes met the lightened glasses on Kabuto-sensei's face, reflections hiding his closed eyes as he sent me a smile.

He was manipulating me, his smile told me this, and he had done so all the way, but I do not really care. With the information he had given me, I would have come to the conclusion with or without his presence. "If you cannot even walk, then you cannot even help Orochimaru-sama getting this new vessel of his," he said, his kind words smoothing me like a cat, with eyes of the devil.

He had always been like that, but I liked him nonetheless. He was strong, and a loyal servant of Orochimaru-sama, despite his faith in Orochimaru-sama's ambitions having wavered on special occasions. When he manipulated, it was always for the sake of Orochimaru-sama's cause, and he must have know something was wrong to come here, inside my lonely room, with the message of the lateness of the Four of the Five and the information of Orochimaru-sama's pain.

"I am aware," I answered, collecting all the strength I did not have to keep my own balance. "But I am doing so anyway." It was only slowly that he let me try to stand again, and though the tremors were still shaking my whole body, I no longer needed his help. As soon as he let me go, I walked to the peg on the wall where the clothes I might never had worn again hung. I would have the whole trip to the vessel's current location to regain my body control.

I put my coat on, as well as trousers and shoes, ignoring the weakness of my fingertips as I buttoned the buttons. All the clothes were bigger than I remembered them. "Which way?"

Triumph. That was one of many things mingled behind the four-eyed's glasses. "They should come straight from Konoha." I nodded, turning away and ran down the halls towards the exit, caring little for the screams of pain everyone of my limps shouted at my mind for every movement I made. Even moving my arthritic fingers or toes made my brain send wincing through my whole body, but I would not let it. I had a mission to get done, and I was not going to let something as minor as oversensitive nerves get in my way of doing my final purpose.

Two halls from the exit, I met one of the many prisoners, a man with short, gray hair. I felt the special chakra flowing around him before even passing him, and let my eyes fall to the floor in respect. The warmth I knew so well spread in my chest like the web of a spider, beautifully clinging to every edge it met in my heart. But along its fine lines, small jolts of angry electricity ran. Those incompetent fools were too late. When I met them, I would show them the punishment they had to face. No one put Orochimaru-sama in danger.

I felt his gaze on me all the way until I turned the corner, the door to the light I had not met since I collapsed after my last mission. Even if his eyes no longer held my back, I knew his thoughts were on me now, sticking to that place on my back like the glue keeping me in this world, and that was enough for me to push away the pain and suffering of my aching limps.

As I leapt onto the first branch of the trees leading me towards Orochimaru-sama's old village, a voice sounded underneath my ears, whispering from memories hidden in the most precious part of my mind. A voice I knew very well and which filled me with intense strength, and worked as a boost on my determination to fulfill my mission.

"_Such a precious warrior,"_ he had called me, right after I had slain the first of his long list of enemies. It must have been a few months after he found me in the forest, alone after the fall of my stupid clan. _"Wanting to hide you away in fear is a pitiful waste."_

I felt the corners of my mouth rise, even if just the slightest. Orochimaru-sama… I had done everything in attempt to let him reach his ambitions, and if I had been able, I would have done it all again. My time at his service was done, and I was supposed to help the next link in the chain reach his destiny. It might be the last thing of use that I would ever be able to do for him, his ambitions and his goal. This could be the end of my purpose and would be the rise of the next servant and vessel.

The wind whispered in my ears, coming directly at my face with news from the late ones. The sensations and experiences, I was not able to understand, but I knew enough to know that the road would be a little longer. I jumped off the trees and onto the side of a canyon, running on even if the fall from the branch had been harder than expected. The pain in my left ankle got more intense, but as long as I was able to, I would keep running for my goal.

"_I want you to see someone, Kabuto." _It was his voice again, soft and smooth like silk in a way only he could do. No voice could match. _"This is Kimimaro, the Kaguya-child I told you about."_

"_Why have I not seen him sooner?"_ the voice of Kabuto-sensei asked, younger yet just as sly and fast as it was now. He was cautious to strangers, so my memory did not confuse me.

"_It is all about trust."_

"_Then is it clever to use a kid from such a dangerous and violent clan? He might get in the way, if you are not careful." _It was sincere concern, and knowing my clansmen, I did not even get angry at him at the time, nor did I now. What I had not figured out by myself about them, which was about nothing other than my own Kekkei Genkai, Orochimaru-sama had told me. Their idiocy and brutality.

Still, I was so surprised to remember the words he had given the medic about me. _"I am very proud, to say" _he had begun, and his words were never lies, _"that this apple has ended very far from the rotten tree of his ancestors. Though he is an expert at all the clan's abilities, his traits of personality differs greatly from the one of his uncivilized family."_

Orochimaru-sama had given me everything I had and everything I could. Without him, I would have wasted away in the tides of times, forgotten, unneeded and stepped on like trash in the street. More than anything, he was the course of my happiness, and that is the reason I worship him.

"_I will give you an offer which you are allowed to refuse if it does not fit you. I hope you could agree on letting me use you as a vessel when the next body-exchange is possible."_

He was the first and only one to trust me.

"_Look at this garden, Kimimaro. I had this made for you and your silly, little thing with flowers. If you'd like it, you can sit here every day, whenever you have a break from your duties."_

And more importantly than anything…

"_Is something wrong, Kimimaro? Are you not feeling well?"_

He is the only one to ever care for me. He was the first to notice the symptoms of my illness, and made Kabuto-san give me check-ups after every mission.

"_I can make others take on the mission if you like. We have only just come home, and you might need some rest."_

The pain in my foot was slowly getting worse, and I realized the reason for it. The bone connecting the ankle with the foot had been broken because of my weaker muscles and lesser balance as my body was still waking up from its month-long slumber. Though I could bear the small pain, it was slowing my pace and using time-wasting movements, and time was something I could not afford to waste.

It would be faster for me to abandon the bone, and I chose to do so. I slipped out of my shoe and directed the broken bone away, my body making a replacement even before the first one left its place. I directed the both of the unbroken ends out through my skin, before using my fingers to pull them both out the rest of the way. I flicked them away, into the water at the bottom of the canyon, before readying to continue my run towards the waterfall I knew could get me to the other side. They had to cross it to reach the hideout, and the easiest place to cross it for water-walkers was the beginning of the cliff. I remember the first time we passed the giant statues.

"_Those are the symbols of the biggest controversy in the history of the land of Fire," _he had explained, though he seemed uninterested in the matter. I knew I had to ask Kabuto about the rest of the story when he came back to report what information he had gathered in his work. Then Orochimaru-sama had turned to me, letting his hand graze lightly over my hair in one of his rare touches. _"Soon, there will be no country to hold a controversy. You will help me with that, won't you, Kimimaro?"_ I had simply smiled at him. It was a rhetoric question, nothing more.

When my foot settled in the shoe again, I continued at the same pace, soon reaching the statues my thoughts had circled around. I did not stop to watch them, did not even look up, as I turned around them and ran to the other side. A mile or so further, I reached the field with the tall grass spreading widely further than my vision reached.

My eyes fell to the ground, looking through the strands of grass for what I knew was just beneath it somewhere. I got a glimpse of white, red and yellow among the green. I did not smile as I watched the flowers lying under the tall shadows coming from the grass, darkening the bright colors of the serene plants, hiding away their beauty and trying to hinder them in fulfilling their purpose.

The smile first came moments later. _"There is probably no point in living." _Those words are the one thing I will never agree with him about. The reason for him never to realize my truth is that faith never let him stray from his path. He found his purpose at a young age and never staggered in his task to fulfill those ambitions. Even he can make a mistake sometimes. _"But by continuing to live, you might be able to find some interesting things. Just like how you found that flower."_ It was the time he found me. I had been arguing with a flower with white petals, since it was the one and only time I was out in the world without the supervision of my clansmen. Those who had died.

I had seen a flower before that time, and I found them beautiful and interesting. But like anything smaller and less solid than a tree or a mountain, I believed it to have a conscious and words of its own. So the silence of those white petals had insulted me severely. Though what made me smile had nothing to do with that flower. It was all about Orochimaru-sama.

"_Just like how I found you."_ It was the first time someone had needed me. Before, the clan had simply used me, and the purpose they gave me was limited to an hour on a battlefield, then locked me away into nothingness once again. He had invited me to become a part of his world, and willingly going with him was the best thing I had done in my life.

My mind turned back to the reason I stopped. My eyes looked over the tree-line. From here, the path could be divided in three, if they had decided to take the road through the forest, the open road over this field or had decided to pass the river at the turn to the east instead of by the waterfall. Until now, I had not seen any sign of their travel, which meant I had not passed them. I just had to decide where I thought they were and take the new vessel from them.

They needed to be killed for the trouble they had caused for Orochimaru-sama. They should not set their foot in Otogakure again after the disgrace they had brought on to us. The only problem I had now was to decide with the risk of being wrong.

"_You have powerful instincts, Kimimaro. So useful. I think you have never done anything wrong in any of the missions you have been on."_

I gritted my teeth, looked at each possible direction before running to the forest. I could feel a distant chakra. It had to be coming from the Four, even if it felt weaker than it should.

"_That will be all for now, Kimimaro."_

A sudden chill ran down my spine at those words, even if the tone of Orochimaru-sama's voice was in no way angered or threatening, or having any other dark feelings in it. I could not even find the memory he had told me those words. A bad feeling overcame me, but it did not stop me in my task.

My own feelings meant nothing compared to Orochimaru-sama.

"It is a pity, though, in some way," Orochimaru said, watching the blown out candle, the symbol of Kimimaro's ended life. Kabuto had left him to greet the new vessel and lead him to the place they should meet. "He has been my greatest tool up until now."


End file.
